Registering, recording, and computing system.



G. W LOR'IMER. REGISTERING, RECORDING, AND COMPUTING SYSTEM.

AFPLICA'HON FILED NOV. 2. I914- Patented Dec. 26, 1916.,

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G. W. LORIMER.

REGISTERING, RECORDING, AND COMPUTING SYSTEM.

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GEORGE w. LOBIHER, OF PIQUA, OKIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE NATIONAL CASHREGISTER COMPANY, 01 DAYTON, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO, (INCORPORATEDIN 1908.)

REGISTERING, RECORDING, AND COMPUTING SYSTEM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 26, 1916.

Original application fled July 12, 1912, Serlal No. 709,042. Divided andthis application filed November 27, 1914. Serial No. 874,280!- T 0 allwhom: it may concern.

Be it known that I, Gnonon W. Loanmn, a citizen of the United States,residing at Piqua, in the count of Miami and State of Ohio, have inventecertain new and useful Improvements in Registerin Recording, andComputing S stems, of w ich I declare the following to lie :1 full,clear, and exact description.

Broadly, the object of my invention is to produce an electromechanicalregistering, recording and computing system which shall attain theadvantages of simplicity, low cost of installation and maintenance,great flexibility of function, and maximum capability of indicating orregistering business or other transactions, of classifying suchtransactions with respect to the clerks or operators involved in makinthem, and also with respect to the kind of transaction, of maintainingsuch a record of these transactions so classified and such runningtotals of the transactions under the various classifications as will atall times present the data in most convenient form for an audit.

My invention, in the form particularly illustrated in this application,is adapted for indicating, registering, recording and computing dataconcerning sales or other business transactions, the amounts of whichare expressible in money values. I refor to it, therefore, particularlyas a cash register system, but I desire it to be understood that myinvention, in its broader aspects, is equally adaptable to theindication, registering, recording and computing of 0t or data than thatexpressible in money values, such, for instance, as data relating totime, as in cost accounting s stems in shops or other commercial estalishmcnts; or, such, for another instance, as data relatin to weightsand-measures, or the counting o finished, and unfinished articles infactory or other stock-room accounting systems. While, therefore, I havein the subse uent portion of this s cification describe my invention inits orm particularly uda ted for handling amounts expressible in do luvsand cents, it is obvious that it lies within the spirit of my inventionto indicate, register, record and compute an other units than those ofmoney. Thus, i applied to a. time recording system in a factory, hoursand minutes, or hours and hundredths of hours could be substituted fordollars and cents. Similarly, if applied to stock-room purposes eitherthe number of articles or the weight or other measure of such articlescould be registered and recorded as received or withdrawn.

A feature of importance of my invention 18 that of remote control; thatis, the control of the registering and recording or printing devices,which may be located at some central point, as in the managers oflice,from the various clerks or salesmens stations located at remote oints inthe store or other establishment. his feature of remote control, whileforming a principal advantage of my complete register system in itsbroadest application, is not a necessary feature, since many of theother advanta es inherent in my invention may be utilize by itsapplication to a register where the registering and printing orrecording devices are at the same point as the point of control, as isthe case of the ordinary mechanical cash register system.

In the resent art, the cash register, on the one han and the variouspneumatic tube and cash carrier systems, on the other hand, form twoimportant adjuncts to facilitate the handling of business in stores andother establishments. The cash register has the advantage of enablingthe salesman or clerk to make change for the customer with a minimumamount of time, and, in the more elaborate cash register systems, it hasthe further advantage of afi'ording a check on the transactions of eachsalesman or clerk. The cash register system, however, particularly whereemployed in large establishments, has the disadvantage of not affordingthe best facilities for supervision from a central point. Where thevarious cash carrier systems are used, a loss of time on the part ofboth the customer and the clerk is entailed, due to the necessarymechanical transmission of the money received, to the cashier and theretransmission of the re ceipt and change back to the clerk who made thesale. This is objectionable, not only in that it causes impatience onthe part of the customer, but also because it divulos the attention ofthe clcrlt between a customer who is waiting for his change and a nowcustomer to whom he may be making a sale. The cash carrier system has afurther disadvantage. It requires the presence of one or more cashiers,in addition to the clerks or salesmen. The carrier system, however, hasthe advantage, not possessed by the ordinary cash register system, ofpermitting some supervision of the business from a central point as itis being transacted.

It is one of he principal objects of my lectromeehanicd cash registersystem to combine the advantages of both the ordinary cash re istersystem and the cash carrier system, y making it possible for each clerkor salesman to make change for the customer, thus avoiding the delay onthe part of the customer and the division of attention on the part ofthe clerk, and at the same time to automatically transmit to the mannzcrs office, or other point, the complete information concernin theamount and character of the sale, an to leave a permanent record of it,properly classified, there. The same act, by which the clerk or salesmanopens his cash drawer and records the amount and character of the saleor transaction, results in the figures being displayed to the customerand also to the clerk or salesman in the same manner as in the ordinarycash register system.

W'hile the ordinary cash register provides, in part, against the loss oftime inherent to the pneumatic tube and carrier systems by permittingthe clerk to make the proper change, so that the clerk and customer mayboth immediately attend to other duties, yet the great cost of amultiplicity of these machines in large stores, coupled with theinability of the management to know just what business is being doneuntil the dilferent registers are inspected, usually at the close of theday, often makes the universal adoption of cash register-sin very largestores prohibitive. In my system, I not only save the time of thecustomer and allow the clerk or salesman to do more effective work andat the same time provide for the immediate and constant supervision fromsome central point, but I rovide apparatus of such greatly sinipliedstructure as to largely reduce the o )jectionable feature of firstcost and subsequent cost of up-keep.

In addition to these advantages, it is the object of my invention toattain an even more complete classification of the business transactionsof an establishment, registering and recording of the amounts ofbusiness transacted in each class, and totalizing of all business in allclasses, than has ever before been achieved by even the most complicatedof the cash register systems known to me.

For the sake of clcarness and brevity, I will refer to the station inthe manager s or su mrvisors others, at which the re istcrin andrecording or printing apparatus is located, as the home station, and tothose stations where the control and local indicating apparatusmanipulated by the clerks or salesmen is located as the "remote stationsor clerks stations." It is to be understood, therefore, that theapparatus at the remote stations is provided with means whereby theclerk may set up, by keys or otherwise, the amount of the transaction,character of the transaction and the designation by which he himself isidentified. The figures and characters so set up are displayed,preferably b r mechanical means, to the customer and also to the clerk.The indication so set up is transmitted electrically to the homestation, where, by elec tro-magnetic means, it is both registered andprinted or otherwise recorded under the proper classification. A runningtotal of the amount of business under each classification as to theamount of business and a running total of the amount of businesstransacted by each clerk is kept, as is also a running total of theentire volume of business. These running totals appear on registers, soas to be constantly available for inspection. In addition to theregistration of the different items and their resultant total under eachclassification, a printing device, located preferably at the homestation, produces a permanent detailed record, item by item, showing notonly the amount, but the character of business and clerk by whom it wastransacted.

Another object of my invention is to proi vide for the propermanipulation of the mechanism so as to prevent fraud or falseregistrations In furthering this object, I so safeguard my apparatus asto make it impossible for the acts of one clerk to interfere with thoseof another, or from one clerk, by his own improper act to cause a wrongregistration through inadvertence or design. To further safeguardagainst fraud or mistake, I provide that no re istration or recordingshall occur until the c erk making it shall have set up, as a. part ofthe matter to be recorded, such designation as will identify him withthat transaction.

Different concerns have different requirements as to the conduct oftheir business.

It is one object of my invention to provide great flexibility in themeeting of these varying requirements. my apparatus to classify thebusiness tronsacted in various ways by merely changing electricalconnections and without any change of apparatus. Thus, I may classifyaccording to kind of merchandise, such as cigars, soda water, drugs,prescriptions, etc.: or I may classify according to the nature of thetransaction; thus, cash, received on a count, chargc, paid out, etc. Inall cases, we gardless of kind of business classification.

Thus, I may cause the clerk performing the transaction is all the matterof the totalization of items, in

that any class of transactions may be carried through the totaliz'ers oromitted therefrom simply changing electrical connections. I

b Thus, one concern might desire its received on account transactions"to appear in the total business, and another might rethe cash andcharge quire that only items appear in the total. In all such res ectsas this my system is one of great.

exibility, no mechanical changes but merely the changes of electricalcircuits bein necessary. V

11 carrying out my invention I have held to the purpose of registeringand recording the transactions in such a way as to afford, the basis atall times for a complete audit or checking up of the business. Forexample, at the home station there is a register individual to eachclerk, and the re 'stration on this should at all times afior a basisofcheck against the cash and charge slipslin I the corresponding clerksdrawer. To'illustrate furt er, let it be assumed that at a certainestablishment, operating under my invention,therewas provided at, thehome;

station a total adder whichshows the total of actual current business,.a-cash adder showing the amount, of cash received, a

charge adder showing the. amount of charge transactions, a received onaccount total adder would or "show the total of the cash and chargeaddadder, and a cash inarily be arranged to ers, which is the total ofthe actual current business. In addition to this there would be an adderfor showing the totalyo'fthe cash,

received on account, and. charge items of each clerk. With, theequipment thus outlined, the registrationof the total adder shouldafford a check against the totals of the cash. and charge adders. Thetotal adder shouldalso afi'ord a check against theag e-' gate of allclerks adders, minus the received on account slips in their cashdrawers. The amount shown. on the received on account adder would aiforda check against the total of the ireceived on account slips in theclerks drawers- I.

mention these examples as illustrative of the results toward which Ihave worked in the v reduction of the system of my invention.

any other ways of checking ora'uditing the accounts from the registersat the close of the day or at any time during the day will suggestthemselves to any one skilled in the auditing of books, in the light ofthe disclosure of. my system which is to follow.

To' avoid confusion in the following specification and in the drawings,I will refer to the side of thecash register which is toward thesalesman, s the front, and the side which its associated paid out adder-The form a part of this specification Flgure 1 is I a rear view, partlyin section, of the cash register apparatus located at the remotestation. Fig. 2 shows a sectional side view through the broken line A-Bof Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows a plan view. of the remote station apparatus,and particularly illustrates the arrangement of the keyboard and thedesignations carried by the different keys. Fig. 4 shows. a plan view,partly in section, of the remote "'station apparatus. It illustratesparticularly the arrangement of the impulse transmitter in its relationto the indicating drums. Fig. 5. showsthe details of the impulsetransmitter and its relation to the other principal parts of the remotesta-' tion mechanism. Fig. 6 is a skeleton view illustratingthe normalposition of a key and art's.v Fig. 7 is a similar view of a key in itsdepressed positionand illustrates the position assumed by the associatedparts prior to the manipulation of the handle of the impulsetransmitter. Fig. 8 shows a keyin its depressed position, and theposition assumed by the associated parts, including the indicating drumand stop mechanism, after the manipulation of the handle of the impulsetransmitter. This figure,and, also Figs. 5 and 6, illustrate thepositions assumed bythe bank of controlling contacts for the normal anddepressed positions of the key. Fig. 9 (Sheet 3) shows a sectionalv viewof the release push button. Fig. '10 (Sheet 3)*-shows a detail of theclerks key and its locking mechanism. Fig.

connects it with the driving shaft. Fig. 13

shows a rear view of one of the cash drawers Wlth. its unlocking magnet.This also shows the means employed for allowing the drawers to open witha minimum amount of frlctlon. Fig. 14 shows a side view of one of thecash drawers with its unlocking magnet 1 and the associated springemployed to automatically open the drawer uponits release by theunlockin magnet. Fig. 15 shows a plan view of t e impulse receivingapparatus atthe home station. Fig. 16 is a. side view of the same.Fig.1? is a detail of theactuating pawl. and ratchet of the impulsereceiving apparatus. Fig. 18"-is a plan view of the combined spacing andswitchi carriage and printing or record-- ing mec anism associatedtherewith. Fig. 19 is a detail of the actuating mechanism for thecombined spacing and switching carriage, by means of which motion in onedirection is transmitted to the carriage. Fig. 20 is a detail of theelectromagne which drives the carriage in one direction. Fig. 21 is adetail view of the ratchet rack [carried by the combined spacing andswitching carriage. Fig. 22 is an enlarged detail in plan view of theprinting mechanism shown in Fig. 18. Fig. 23 shows a side view of theprinting mechanism, the platen and associated parts carried on thecarriage being in raised position in readiness to receive the imprint ofupper case characters. This view also shows the end view of the spacingand switching carriage and the rails upon which it operates. Fig. 24 isa detail of the print ing mechanism, showing the platen in its loweredposition in readiness to receive im-- prints of the lower case. Fig. 25shows the details of the'friction arrangement in connection with thepaper reel to prevent its overrunning. Another view of this detail isshown in Fig. '22. Fig. 26 shows an end view of the spacing andswitching carriage with a registering apparatus mounted thereon,together with the actuating magnet for this register. Fig. 27 shows aplanview of the spacing and switching carriage with registering andprinting mechanisms removed. This also shows the retractile spring forthe carriage. Fig. 28 is a detailed view' of the spacing and switching'carriagerelea'se mechanism. Fig. 29 is a detail end view of thespacingand switching carriage, showing the tracks, wheels and contact brushes.Fig. 30

is a detail ofthe paper carrying cylinder, showing the platen in itselevated position in- I readiness to receive the imprint of upper casecharacters. Fig. 31 shows the platen in This figure and the its loweredposition. preceding one show the mechanism for raising and lowering theplaten at a predetermined point in the traveLof the carriage. Fig. 32 isa f ont view of one of thelregistering mechanisms dismounted from thecarriage. Fig. '33 is a side view of same. Fig. 34 is a sectional endview of same, showing the pawl and stop arrangement. Fig. 35 is a frontview of Fig. 32, partly-in section,

with the front of the case removed. Fi 36*is a detail of one of thecounter. whee s of Fig. 32. Fig. 37 shows four counter? wheels,.mountedon a section of the shaft,

two of these counter-wheels being in section.

Fig. 38 shows the reverse of Fig. 36. Fig. 39 shows the details of oneof the pawlsfor carrying over a'unit movement to the next nism. Fig. 43shows a front view of same,

partly in section, with cover removed. Fig.

44-shows a detail of a counter wheel of the transaction counter, Fig. 45shows an assembly of three counter Wheels on a section of the shaft, twoof said counter wheels be ing in section. Fig. 46 shows the reverse ofFig. 44. 47 is. a detail of the pawl for said counter wheels. Fig. 48shows the electrical vention. Fig. 50 (Sheet 10) shows the typearrangement of the printing mechanlsm.

For the purpose of clearness of illustration, 4

the letters on these type bars are shown as they would print, ratherthan reversed as the actual type faces themselves would appear.

In these drawings like numerals refer to i like parts.

In describing the invention, I will first explain the construction andmethod of operation of the apparatus at the remote station. This isshown on Sheets 1 to 6, inclusive, of the drawings. In general form thisremote station apparatus resembles an ordi-.

nary cash register.; The'keyboard at the 'front of the machine consistsof vertical rows of keys 1, the successive keys in each row beingarranged at different levels, as

most clearly shown in Figs. 2'and 5, for the to 90, and represent ineach case dollars and cents, as indicated. By depressing these keys,in'various combinations, a money'va'l'ue from 1 to $99.99 may be setup. The fifth bank of keys from the left bears any suitable letters asdesignations, these letters referring to the' various clerks who are tohave access 0, sale, Cash, Charge, Recelved onxaccountfland Paid out andthe remaining-four keys in this row may bear any other-desireddesignations to indicate the classification of transactions. In describ-"ing the operation of the device, it will be v assumed, for the purposeof simplicity, that only these five classification keys and four of theclerk keys are connected up, but it will be obviousffrom the descriptionto follow that theren'tire number in each bank may be employed. If it ispreferred to classify the j business by the class of merchandise sold,

such as cigars, candy, etc., rather than by the charactegof thetransaction, the sixth bank. of keys may be marked with suitable v tothe machine. The firstfive keys of the siXth'orrightl hand bank aremarked, respectivel with suitable indications to designate d

